Prior to 1851, a portion of this park served as a cemetery. The property changed hands several times before it was purchased in the 1860s by Dr. James A. Henshall, M.D. Around 1865, he developed America’s first private fish hatchery here. The coach house is all that remains of a once spectacular estate. Fowler Lake was formed when the first dam was built in 1837-38 at the Oconomowoc River’s entrance to Lac La Belle. In the early 1900s, there was an extensive ice cutting operation on the east end of the lake. Ice was shipped to Chicago and elsewhere